A local hotspot ‘in the middle of nowhere’, this thatch-roofed 14th-century inn is worth the trip down a winding country lane in the Nadder valley.

Sophisticated yet unpretentious, this ivy-wrapped pub-with-rooms in the depths of Thomas Hardy country ‘entices’ with classic British grub and rustic chic bedrooms.

Thatched cottages and sheep-dotted fields swaddle the single-track roads to this 17th-century mellow-stone Nadder valley house in an ‘unspoilt’ village.

‘Set in a period property, this hotel pampers its clients like friends, and captures an age of country house hospitality,’ write readers this year, of Barbara Garnsworthy’s former dower house in a feudal village.

At an ancient crossroads on the edge of the Fonthill Estate, Dan Brod and Charlie Luxton’s Georgian pub-with-rooms is a ‘popular, good-value’ spot.

In a hilltop market town familiar from Ridley Scott’s classic Hovis ad (Dvořák, New World Symphony, brass band), this restaurant-with-rooms, launched in 1991, is as good today as it has always been.

Carefully restored, with an abundance of quirky details – a stream separates the dining room from bar – this well-designed roadside inn is a social media hit.

A 15-minute walk from the cathedral, the Street family’s ‘first-rate guest house’ provides good-value B&B accommodation.

‘A handsome Georgian house’ and former coaching inn, overlooking the River Stour meadows in a market town, is today ‘a very pleasant hotel’ with ‘lovely staff'.

‘One for traditionalists,’ write trusted Guide readers, of this child-friendly, dog-friendly Jacobean ancestral home in Thomas Hardy country, run by owners Richard and Brian Prideaux-Brune, with Richard’s wife, Alison.

Flanked by two golf courses, this 18th-century coaching inn, in a quiet New Forest hamlet, is ‘a great option for a relaxed weekend away’.

The hub of the village, within trotting distance of the iconic white horse, this ‘impressive’ pub-with-rooms has much going on.